A report from Japan's Atomic Energy Agency said the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) stopped generating electricity in October following an accident. With Japan already reeling from the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March last year, the incident sparked alarm there and in South Korea over the prospect of radiation leaking from the CEFR. Those fears were intensified by Beijing's failure to report the accident or release details of what happened, according to a Tokyo newspaper which cited the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency's investigation.

The same report highlighted worrying safety lapses at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) outside Beijing, which houses the CEFR. Safety standards were said to be "very low", with a lack of devices to measure potential radiation leaks, while the main control room of the reactor was equipped with beds which workers rested on when they were on duty.

Wan Gang, the director of the CIAE, denied there had been an accident or any cover-up.

"CEFR hasn't been operating since July last year so reports that an accident occurred in the autumn are extremely inconsistent with the facts," he told Chinese media.

Mr Wan also refuted the allegations of poor safety, saying five teams were monitoring the reactor around the clock and that there were multiple measures in place to prevent radiation leaks. He denied there were beds in the main control room for staff to sleep on.

Related Articles

China has never experienced a major nuclear accident, although there have been small leaks of radiation from some of its nuclear power stations. The last occurred in May 2010 in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province at the Daya Bay plant, the oldest of China's 13 operational nuclear reactors. Managers at the plant failed to inform the public of the leak until three weeks later. Subsequently, Beijing denied that radiation had escaped but it was confirmed by a Hong Kong power company with a share in Daya Bay.

CEFR is a fourth-generation reactor and China's first fast reactor. Until now, China has largely been dependent on French and Russian technology for its nuclear power programme. As the world's largest energy consumer, China has ambitious plans for its nuclear plants to provide six per centof all its electricity needs by 2020. There are currently 27 new plants under construction, but work on them has been halted since the Fukushima disaster while safety checks are carried out.